Bellingham is new England talisman but Southgate fears saviour syndrome

he big man is back or at least he is coming back. It is a situation we have lived before with England on the eve of a major tournament in Germany. For Wayne Rooney post-metatarsal at the 2006 World Cup, see

“We are not putting everything on Jude,” Southgate said. “We’ve got a lot of good players and it is a collective thing to go and try to win this tournament. If we are relying on one person that isn’t going to be a team that wins. I’m sure he will give the squad a lift but it is not his responsibility to do that. It is for all of us to get the focus right, to make sure individually our mentality is right.

A recap. Luke Shaw is the most obvious fitness concern; the hope is that the only specialist left-back will return to play some part in England’s second group game against Denmark on Thursday week. Like Maguire, he suffered a serious setback in his injury rehabilitation in training at Manchester United – not a good look for the club’s medical department.

Is Bellingham 100% fit? It is probably a silly question at this stage of the season. Footballers are rarely pain-free, there is normally something hurting them and especially now after the accumulation of so many games. But it is easy to linger on how Bellingham leant against one of the goalposts in the 70th minute of the Champions League final to stretch out his calf, possibly feeling some cramp.

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